Western Digital today began shipping its 250GB WD Scorpio WD2500BEVS 2.5-inch Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive. According to the company, the new drive employs perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology to achieve the highest capacity available in a small form factor drive and has WD proprietary features that make the drive quiet, use less power and run at cool operating temperatures. The best news may be that the drive spins at 5400 RPM. The new WD Scorpio drive further expands the company's breadth of 2.5-inch mobile hard drive offerings to capacity points ranging from 40GB up to 250GB. The 250GB WD Scorpio WD2500BEVS drive has a suggested retail price of $199.

I have the 160GB Scorpio and it's just about as quiet as the stock 80GB Seagate that came with my mini. I was skeptical about going with WD after having some bad experiences in the past, but it has worked out well. I picked mine up for just over $100 a few months ago. It can be had for like $90 now. I'm amazed with how fast these higher capacity 2.5" drives are falling in price now. I wouldn't be surprised to see this 250GB model selling for under $150 by the fall.

If the Mac mini's get updated to C2D and I get enough money I'll get one then buy a 300GB when they get cheap if they come out anytime soon._________________"You must control your future by taking command of your present, and fixing and learning from your past."